RD Vinny Borgesi - Northeast University, NCAA (2022 undrafted)

[Pavel Buchnevich]

PMD who can move the puck, skate, and play average defense. Nothing too flashy or exciting about how he plays. His size is a little below average (5’10). He’ll battle a little, but he’s over-matched physically for now. Round 2 or 3 type of player for next year.

Vinny Borgesi at eliteprospects.com

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[Luc Poitras]

I agree. Definitely needs to improve his D. But that may come being so young in this league. I'm worried for all these smaller D who struggle in d-zone and aren't great offensively. Will they really get the look in the draft that high? 4th round player for me.

 

[Pavel Buchnevich]

My notes from what I watched on this guy this season.

Borgesi: Under-sized offensive defenseman. You could even call him a puck-moving defenseman because he’s good with transitions, not too bad defensively for his size, he skates well, and he moves the puck well up the ice. I could see his size giving him some trouble at higher levels, but he can put up points and he will be good with moving the puck. He’s probably right about the same caliber as Fensore, who went 90th. I’d suspect 4th round most likely. Could be 5th or 3rd.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Obviously overshadowed by BU's Lane Hutson but solid freshman season at Northeastern.

Any chance a team takes a late round flier despite his lack of height?

Any comparison to Bruins' Connor Clifton?

 

[LeProspector]

He should be a mid-round pick

 

[Hockeyville USA]

Point per game NCAA D as a 19 year old: finally gets drafted or still too small/riverboat gambler for the NHL?

 

[montreal]

I could see him getting picked this year.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Have heard comparisons to DeAngelo since they are both from the Philadelphia area. Any truth to that?

 

[Michael Farkas]

Guys...come on haha.

As much as I'm a big defender of small d-men (to a fault, as I'm told sometimes)...let's be real here, it's a 5'8" defenseman who doesn't have an elite skill set. He doesn't play like DeAngelo - that's a lazy, geographical comparison.

And I'm not saying Borgesi is untalented. But the threshold to play at 5'8" is so high and Borgesi needs to be able to lure in F1 and be able to beat him every single time and then beat him back up the ice because I don't think he's an elite puck carrier and I don't think that the length of his stride enables that anyhow (he's a terrific skater, but length of stride can eat you up from a forechecking angles perspective).

Look, things change, the game evolves...but teams that took some shots at sub 5'10" d-men have been disappointed by the ROI and last I checked, that mini trend has started to reverse a bit. Borgesi isn't the guy that's gonna break the mold...folks are still wondering if Lane Hutson or Domenick Fensore can do it still...

There's been exactly one d-man born after 1960 that has played (50 NHL games) at 5'8" or shorter...Francis Bouillon...and he was an absolute cannonball.